Fashion moves quickly in the modern world, and as corporations race to stay ahead of the curve, the results can get a little ridiculous. One Redditor was recently exasperated with an item of clothing from retail company Culture Kings that points to larger issues in overproduction today.
In the thread r/Anticonsumption, the Redditor posted an image of a gray sweatshirt that was purposely distressed and splattered with paint. It looks second hand, but it isn't — it's brand new. "Why does this exist?" they captioned the photo.
"If you had an old worn out jumper covered in paint, you wouldn't wear it out of the house," the Redditor wrote. "But this is apparently acceptable??"
According to Earth.org, the apparel industry produces over 100 billion garments per year, and 101 million tons of them end up in landfills. This means that a garbage truck full of clothes ends up in the landfill every single second. In the U.S., the average consumer throws away 81.5 pounds of clothes each year, and on our current trajectory, the industry's global emissions are expected to increase by 50% by the end of 2030.
🗣️ Should it be illegal to throw away old clothes?
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Statistics like these are what make the production of a purposely distressed sweatshirt wasteful, particularly when secondhand clothes are so easily accessible. Thrifting allows consumers to shop without participating in some of the harmful environmental impacts that come with overproduction.
Other Redditors were quick to point to some of the more alarming elements of the garment.
"Hey that's totally my style!" one user commented. "Except that i spent [$4] for a thrifted sweater and spilt paint, dirt and spaghetti sauce on it for a better result."
"You could buy a thrift store hoodie and make this for so cheap if you like the worn/faded style," said another.
"On top of that, it's expensive," another user commented. The price of the sweatshirt is shown in the screenshot — $99.95.
"For only $100 you too can look as fly as my middle school baseball coach who wore his dirty work hoodie during practices," a Redditor joked.
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